KARACHI: President of United Business Group (UBG), Zubair Tufail has advised to all trade bodies of Pakistan to play vital role in expansion of economic ties with the ASEAN countries.

He said Pakistan needs to develop bilateral or trilateral ties with countries of ASEAN, an intergovernmental organization of ten Southeast Asian countries: Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar, in diverse sectors of economy, trade & commerce and joint ventures.

Commenting that ASEAN has awarded Pakistan the status of Sectoral Dialogue Partner (SDP) in 1997 which covers various sectors including trade, industry, investment and tourism development but unfortunately Pakistan has not taken any advantage of SDP.

He said that in the past Pakistan had made numerous pledges to take Pakistan's trade with ASEAN to new heights but no concrete measures were adopted and no specific policies were implemented for the economic development with ASEAN countries. Pakistan's trade with ASEAN countries has witnessed only a modest growth for many years. Pakistan's total bilateral trade with ASEAN is US $ 6.3 billion while India's bilateral trade with ASEAN is around US $ 200 billion, he said.

Zubair Tufail said Pakistan should initiate the Pakistan-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as ASEAN, as a collective, is the 5th largest economy in the world. Such an agreement (FTA) would bring huge economic benefits to Pakistan. Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore have valuable experience in food-processing and fruit-canning, which could be benefit to the fruit producers of Pakistan.

Last year Indonesia has removed 30 percent its import duties on 20 Pakistan's exports. Pakistan may also exploit the comparative advantage of its exports, commonly cotton and textiles in Brunei, Cambodia and Thailand.

Tourism is another large untapped area between Pakistan and ASEAN which needs to be exploited to maximum. He said that CPEC may help boost Pakistan's exports to ASEAN and invite investments if it is branded properly by providing numerous befitting propositions to all the members of the ASEAN.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021